Sports boot manufacture

ABSTRACT

A method of making a sports boot having an upper and a flexible material, an outsole and an insole. The insole having a heel region and forwardly projected portion having an outer edge profile which is stepped inwardly. The lower edges of the upper are folded inwardly and stitched to the inwardly stepped edge profile of the forwardly projecting portion of the insole forming a coplanar assembly of the insole and facing edges, stitching the facing edges to form a boot sub-assembly, applying the boot assembly to a last, folding and securing the lower edges of the upper to the heel region of the insole and securing the outsole to the sub-assembly to complete the formation of the boot.

Thus application is a 371 of PCT/GB95/01620 filed on Jul. 10, 1995.

This invention relates to a method of making a sports boot.

The type of sports boot with which the invention is concerned includessports boots used to play football, rugby, and many other types of ballgames.

Traditional manufacture of football and rugby boots and the like haveused relatively heavy "uppers" of leather or other material, and withrelatively rigid, and thick soles joined to the edges of the upper.However, requirements of modern sportsmen now demand much lighter-weightdesigns of boot, with lightweight uppers and soles, but, this imposesproblems not yet fully solved by existing techniques, at least by modernmass production techniques.

The invention seeks to address this problem, and to provide a novelsolution resulting in easier manufacture of a lightweight sports boot.

A method of making a lightweight sports boot according to the inventionutilises a relatively lightweight upper of flexible material, anoutsole, and an insole with the lower edges of the upper secured to theinsole and with the insole and the edges of the upper being secured tothe outsole, and said method comprising:

folding the lower edges of the upper inwardly and stitching at leastpart of said edges to the facing edges of an insole, which are locatedinwardly of the edges of said upper and substantially coplanar with thefolded edges to form a midsole, and thereby to form a part-assembly of aboot;

applying the boot part-assembly to a last; and,

securing the outsole to the co-planar sub-assembly on the last tocomplete the formation of the boot.

An additional over-liner may be fitted within the boot to overly theco-planar sub-assembly of insole and folded-in edges of the upper.

The securement of the outsole may use any known adhesive or bondingtechniques, and if desired a line of stitching may provide additionalsecurement of the outsole to the sub-assembly.

The mid-sole therefore is located inwardly of the folded-in edges of theupper at least along the major part of the edges of the upper, but inthe heel region of the boot, the mid-sole may be enlarged so as to fillsubstantially the entire support area within the boot for the heelportion of the wearer.

A preferred embodiment of method according to the invention will now bedescribed in detail, by way of example only, with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of some of the individual components whichcan be assembled to form an "upper" of a sports boot to be made by amethod according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view showing the components of the "upper" stitched togetherto form a closed form of upper ready to be lasted;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a break-open last on which the uppercan be fitted, to be joined to an insole and thereby form a bootsub-assembly;

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the upper fitted on the last of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an insole board which can be securely joined tothe upper, when both are assembled on the last of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view from the underside of the bootsub-assembly, comprising the upper and insole board joined together;

FIG. 7 is an underplan view of the profile of the last shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an underplan view, similar to FIG. 5, and showing thedifference in size and shape between the profile of the last shown inFIG. 7, and that of the insole board;

FIG. 9 is an underplan view of the folded over edges of the upper, whenfitted on the last shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the assembly of the insole board to thefolded-in lower edges of the upper, but with the remainder of the upperomitted for clarity;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the boot sub-assembly, and takenthrough a forward part of the boot, and showing completion of theassembly to an outsole which is securely joined thereto; and

FIG. 12 is a sectional view, similar to FIG. 11, but taken through theheel region of the boot.

However, before giving a detailed description of one preferred exampleof method according to the invention, description will first be made ofone existing technique for the manufacture of sports boots, such asfootball boots. First of all, an upper is cemented or otherwise securedto an insole board while it is located on the usual "last", and then anoutsole is cemented to the insole board and to the upper. (The outsolemay be flat, or may be formed with a concave underside to give a betterfit on the underside of the last which is normally curved across itswidth). These operations take place on the last, (after assembly of the"upper" components, and fitting of the assembly on the last), until thefinished shape of the boot has been obtained, and it is then removed.

By contrast, in the method according to the invention, a major part ofthe assembly i.e. a sub-assembly of the boot, is carried out before itis applied to the last, and then the completion of the sole assembly tothe boot sub-assembly takes place on the last. By this means, arelatively lightweight and flexible material can be used in theformation of the upper, which, after formation in the sub-assembly, canbe pulled onto the last almost like a sock, and then the outsole,usually of suitable plastics material, is then cemented, bonded,adhesively or otherwise secured directly to the bottom of the upper, andto the insole.

Thus, while the boot has an insole board, and an outsole, the means bywhich the insole is secured to folded-in edges of the upper, to form asubstantially co-planar sub-assembly, effectively constitutes a type of"midsole". The stitching together of the folded-in edges of the upper tothe midsole can take place using any suitable stitching techniques, andbefore the sub-assembly is applied to the last. This sub-assembly isreadily pulled onto the last, and then the formation of the boot iscompleted by securing the outsole to the co-planar sub-assembly on thelast.

Additional securement of the outsole to the sub-assembly may be obtainedby applying a line of stitching closely adjacent to the outer peripheryof the outsole.

An additional over-liner (known as an "insock") may be fitted within theboot, to overly the co-planar sub-assembly of midsole and folded-inedges of the upper.

The midsole is located inwardly of the folded-in and co-planar edges ofthe upper, along the major part of the lower periphery of the upper, butpreferably in the region of the heel portion of the boot, the insoleboard forming the midsole widens-out to form a planar heel supportingarea substantially filling the heel portion of the boot. Rivet, nail,stud and other means may be used to unite this enlarged heel portion ofthe insole board to the sole structure formed by the laminate ofoutsole, folded-in edges of the upper and the midsole.

Referring now to the Figures of drawings, a preferred embodiment ofmethod according to the invention will now be described in detail, andwhich comprise an improvement to the existing "strobel" technique.Description will first be made of the formation of the boot sub-assemblyfrom the component parts shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, and the method stagesinvolved in completing the sub-assembly.

An assembled upper is shown in FIG. 2 and designated generally byreference 10, and the main individual components of the upper 10 areshown in FIG. 1, which are stitched together to form the upper 10. Thecomponents include toe portion 12, heel portion 11, side panels 13,U-shaped lace reinforcement 14 and decals 15. (There will usually befurther components of the upper, but only the main ones have beendescribed and illustrated herein).

After the components 11 to 15 have been stitched together, the upper 10is formed and is ready now to be lasted, by being pulled over a last, asshown in FIG. 3, and which is designated generally by reference 16. Thelast 16 is of the break-open type, comprising a main portion 16a to fitwithin the forward part of the boot and a removable heel portion 16b.The last 16 therefore can readily be opened, after completion of thesub-assembly, to allow the boot sub-assembly to be removed. The last 16may be attached to a strobel stitching machine (not shown) to form anintegral component thereof.

FIG. 4 shows the upper 10 fitted on the two part last 16.

To complete the boot sub-assembly, an insole board of a rigid material17 is joined to the lower edges of the upper, partly by stitching, andpartly by cementing or other adhesion, to give a boot sub-assembly ascan be seen from the perspective view of the underside of thesub-assembly as shown in FIG. 6. The insole board 17 has a specialshape, to facilitate the sub-assembly, as will become apparent from thedescription with reference to the further figures of drawings. FIG. 6shows the folded over lower edges 18 of the upper 10, which are joinedalong the major part of their length to the insole board 17 by interlockstitching 19 while the upper 10 is pulled over the last 16. It will beseen from FIG. 6 that the line of stitching 19 extends along the edgesof the insole board 17 in the forward (non-heel) region of the boot.However, in the heel area of the boot, the means of joining the insoleboard 17 to the upper 10 is different, and it can be seen from FIG. 6that the line of interlock stitching 19 stops at a stepped transitionline 20 and which is the transition between the narrow waisted portion21 of the insole board 17, and the heel portion 22.

There has been described above, and illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 6, a novelmethod of forming a boot sub-assembly, and this operation can take placein the same boot-making factory at which the completion of the assemblyis done, or the sub-assembly may be done in a separate factory.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 to 12, there will now be described in furtherdetail the formation of the sub-assembly, and completion of the assemblyof the boot by securement of an outsole to the sub-assembly, as can beseen in FIGS. 11 and 12.

FIG. 7 is an underplan view showing the profile shape of the last 16,and the external profile of the underside of the last 16 is shown byreference 21, whereas FIG. 8 shows the profile of the insole board 17and in particular its smaller size when compared with the profile 21 ofthe last 16.

FIG. 9 shows the folded over lower edges 18 of the upper 10, on theunderside of the lower profile of the last 16, and FIG. 9 therefore alsois an underplan view. By contrast, FIG. 10 is a plan view showing theinsole board 17 overlying part of the edge of the upper, although theremainder of the upper is omitted for clarity. FIG. 10 shows the line ofinterlocking stitching 19 which runs around the periphery of insoleboard 17 forwardly from the stepped transition 20 towards the toe region23, and then back to the other stepped region 20. This stitching isapplied while the upper 10 and insole board 16 are fitted on the last16. However, the heel region 22 of the insole board 17 is ofsubstantially the same shape and size as the heel portion of the last16, and therefore heel portion 22 overlies the edges 18 of the upper inthe heel region of the boot.

As can be seen in FIG. 12, which is a sectional view through the heelregion of the boot, the inwardly folded edges of the upper, designatedby reference 18a, underlie the heel portion 22 of the insole board, andcan be secured thereto by any convenient means, such as cement, adhesiveand/or stitching. However, in the non-heeled region of the sub-assembly(see FIG. 11), ie along the length of the line of interlock stitching 19running between stepped transition lines 20 and the toe region 23, theinwardly folded edges of the upper, designated by reference 18b, arecoplanar with, and adjacent to the facing edges 17a of the insole board17.

FIG. 11 is a typical sectional view in the non-heel region of the boot(between stepped lines 20 and the toe region 23 of FIG. 10), and alsoshows in dashed outline 26 a cushion type of additional liner which canoverlie the sub-assembly of folded-in edges 18 of the upper and thespecially shaped insole board (midsole) 17. FIG. 11 also shows in dottedoutline a typical pair of boot studs 27 provided on the underside of theoutsole 24.

The description above is mainly concerned with the stages involved inthe formation of the sub-assembly, and this can be carried out in aseparate factory, or within one factory as part of a complete formationof a sports boot.

After completion of the sub-assembly, the boot assembly is completed bysecurement of outsole 24 to the sub-assembly, and this can take place ona last (not shown) and by any suitable securement technique, egadhesives, cement and/or stitching. By way of example, a peripheralinternal line of stitching 25 is shown, which unites the outsole 24 tothe sub-assembly, and in particular to the inwardly folded edges of theupper and to the insole board 17.

Therefore, in the method of the invention, effectively the speciallyprofiled insole board 17 forms, in combination with the inwardly foldededges of the upper, a coplanar assembly which effectively is a "midsole"and this provides advantages in the assembly, and also enables a sportsboot to be manufactured on a mass production basis with a light-weightupper, using sewn-in-sock type techniques previously only thoughtpossible to be used with moccasin type shoes.

I claim:
 1. A method of making a sports boot having an upper of flexiblematerial which extends from a heel region to a toe region of the boot,an outsole secured to a lower edge of the upper and defining an outeredge of the boot which includes the heel region and the toe region, andan insole which comprises a rigid board which runs full length betweenthe heel region and the toe region, said insole having (i) a heelportion which substantially fills the heel region of the boot and (ii) aforwardly projecting portion, in which the forwardly projecting portionhas a outer edge profile which is stepped inwardly of the boot edgealong a continuous line which extends forwardly along one side of theboot from the heel region to the toe region, along the toe region, andalong the opposite side of the boot to the heel region, said methodcomprising:folding the lower edges of the upper inwardly along bothsides of the boot and along the toe region so as to face and to liealongside the inwardly stepped edge profile of the forwardly projectingportion of the insole, and thereby to form a coplanar assembly of insoleand facing edges; stitching the facing edges together to form a bootsub-assembly; applying the boot sub-assembly to a last; folding over alower edge of the upper at the heel region of the boot, so as to overliethe heel portion of the insole; securing the lower edge of the upper atthe heel region with the heel portion of the insole; and securing theoutsole to the sub-assembly to complete the formation of the boot.
 2. Amethod of making a sports boot according to claim 1, further comprisingthe step of securing a plurality of boot studs to the outsole.
 3. Amethod according to claim 1, in which an additional over-liner is fittedwithin the boot to overlie the coplanar assembly of insole and folded-infacing edges of the upper.
 4. A method according to claim 1, in whichthe outsole is secured to the sub-assembly by a line of stitching.